MRR

Thanks for the reply. For your last answer, I'll just say that from what i've looked up so far (though it's been hard with several articles contradicting eachother), i've gathered that most methanogens are archaea that generate methane, and that in the gut they can be grouped into two categories depending on what pathway of methanogenesis they take: the methylotrophic pathway and the hydrogenotrophic pathway. I understand the hydrogenotrophic pathway, but i don't understand what happens in the methylotrophic pathway for archaea in the gut. The 'Methanosphaera stadtmanae' section of this site http://bugs-in-your-guts.com/?p=290#Gaci states that It' only produces CH4 by reducing methanol (derived from microbial degradation of pectin) in the presence of H2, and needs acetate (CH3COOH) and CO2 as carbon sources', but how exactly does this reaction occur, and how does acetate and CO2 come into the equation? The source that it referenced did not help with my understanding.

Hello, I am in high school and I am writing an essay for a competition about microbes inside humans. However, I am very confused about several topics that I have read about, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer the following questions! - What's the difference between glycans and carbohydrates? Do they get digested in the same way in the large intestine? - many sites state that the methanogens in the gut are anaerobic, so is there no oxygen in the gut? - is the bacteria B infantis a fermentative bacteria? - How do fermentative bacteria release hydrogen during fermentation? Why do they produce hydrogen (what benefit)? - Why do methanogens then reduce carbon compounds using hydrogen to make methane? What is the benefit of that to humans? - Many sources state that methylotrophic bacteria in the gut produce methane by using carbon sources like acetate and carbon dioxide - how does this work? I thought that methylotrophic bacteria use hydrogen to reduce methanol, so where do acetate and CO2 come into the process? It would help a lot if you could show me the equation that methylotrophic bacteria undergo to 'convert' hydrogen to methane and other products. Thank you!